Sebastian Vettel on a rare excursion from the pits during testing

Reigning champion Sebastian Vettel has not even completed a full race distance in his new Red Bull machine.

Yet, counter-intuitive as it may seem, his likely struggles in the opening races could end up being the worst possible news for his rivals.

Vettel is not used to this type of situation. Not since his debut season in 2008 has he started the year in a car that has virtually no chance of winning the opening race. Never has he begun the year in a car that is potentially even at risk of not even starting it.

The Red Bull garage is always a busy place in winter, but whereas normally that is because of the relentless introduction of development parts, this year its because the mechanics have been busy on the achingly slow repair work that has been all too regularly required just to get the car out on track.

When it has made it out of the garage it has shown signs of promise, with good high-speed downforce and a nice balance, but so far the team hasnt been able to push the engine hard enough to deliver performance anywhere near comparable to the front-runners.

Four-time champion Vettel has been an observer for much of his scheduled six days of testing (he managed a total of 162 laps), and Red Bull heads to Melbourne with fewer laps than any of the teams bar Lotus and Caterham, who both missed all or part of the opening test.

But rather than mouthing off and criticising the team and car, Vettel has taken a pragmatic approach to the whole situation.

And that calm and composed reaction speaks volumes.

If Red Bull had done what McLaren did last year and got into trouble because they steered away from a tried and tested concept and took a gamble on a direction that didnt work, you could expect fireworks. But Red Bull hasnt done that, and this situation is very different.

Continued here:

Gray Matter: Testing troubles will end up making Red Bull stronger